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Written By: Admin | Updated : August 9, 2012 7:55 AM IST
While the country s explosive population rate is a matter of concern for all there are others who take advantage of the government policies framed to keep it in control. Chattisgarh s health minister Amar Agrwala, revealed that doctors performed hysterectomies on poor village women without a valid medical reason to claim money from a national insurance scheme.
This programme allows docs to claim Rs 30,000 to treat poor families. "The women were deliberately ill-advised by doctors who removed their uterus to get money," Amar Agrawal, Chhattisgarh's health minister told Reuters. "As per my information the doctors have so far managed to make roughly 2 crore (10 million) rupees ($360,000) in recent months by removing uteruses without any valid medical reasons."
The state government found that 1,800 hysterectomies had been performed in the state, most of them illegally.
Not only can women bear children after the removal of her uterus but the procedure which is often accompanies by the removal of her ovaries might cause the early onset of osteoporosis and other diseases. Raman Kataria, a physician with a non-profit organisation in rural Chhattisgarh, said government policy was abused because of the absence of an external governing body and standard treatment guidelines.
"There has to be a regulatory body," he said. "It cannot be left to the devices of these care providers." Multiple pregnancies, early childbearing, malnutrition and traumatic home deliveries make rural women in India susceptible to multiple problems of the uterus.
A similar scandal was reported in 2010 by media in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where many illiterate village women between 20 and 40 years of age underwent hysterectomies. A recent Thomson Reuters TrustLaw poll, based on parameters such as quality of health services, education levels and the threat of sexual violence, ranked India as the worst country to be a woman in the G20 group of nations.
Docs grilled about illegal womb removal procedure
